It’s Ladies Night at Northstar Bar

Music Row
By Brian Rademaekers

It’s always a plus when you can combine good music with a good cause.
This Friday will see the Trenton-based FDR Label launch the release of About a Girl — a compilation featuring 21 local acts dishing out 21 songs in a very specific category: girl music.
No, not like Liz Phair girl music, or Brittany Spears, or even that sugary sweet Cardigans-style "girl music."
We’re simply talking about songs that feature the name of a girl.
The good cause?
A portion of proceeds from About a Girl sales will go toward the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition, a non-profit serving the needs of breast cancer patients and survivors here in the Keystone State.
FDR Label, formerly Faced Down Records, has been specializing in compilations with a local bent since 1996. Some of their more popular included a tribute to The Who, Who’s Not Forgotten, and the ’80s movie tribute CD, High School Reunion.
Their latest compilation rounds up area "indie, power-pop, and garage rock bands" and has them play a song of their choosing with a girl’s name in the chorus and title.
Indeed, some of the region’s best pop-rockers do show up on the feel-good collection, including Beretta 76, the Creeping Weeds, Grammar Debate!, Trolley Vox, and D.C.’s the Timothy Bracken Complex.
Friday’s show will feature seven of those 21 artists playing their "girl song," including Late Night Television, Taggart, The Rigbees, Dipsomaniacs, The Successful Failures, The Timothy Bracken Complex, and my personal favorite — Grammar Debate!
For About a Girl, Grammar Debate! took on the Velvet Underground’s Stephanie Says. The song was originally recorded in 1968 but wasn’t released to the public until 1985 with the emergence of the cult-classic "lost album," VU.
A John Cale-era Velvet Underground recording, the melancholy and otherworldly Stephanie Says recently found a new generation of fans when it appeared on the soundtrack of Wes Anderson’s 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums.
On About a Girl, Philadelphia’s Grammar Debate! give Stephanie Says a wonderfully lush and jangling treatment, with co-ed vocals harmonizing above a fuzzy cloud of sublime orchestration.
No doubt one of the brightest spots on the CD, the cover allows the pop-sensibility and sheer technical skill of Grammar Debate!’s musicians to shine through, adding to an already notable collection of recordings for the band.
First formed in 2005, the band has been slowly working its way into the local scene and took a big step this past spring when it released its highly addictive self-produced debut Helicopter vs. Cheetah.
Weighing in with a hearty six members, Grammar Debate! includes Taggart guitarist James Alf Becker; Joseph Lekkas on vocals and guitar; Grant Whittaker on drums; John Sakoian on trumpet and percussion; Alexander Yaker on bass and vocals; and Carolynne McNeel of the Rarebirds on guitar, keyboards, violin and vocals.
I’ve yet to see Grammar Debate! live, but a well-received and touching set delivered by McNeel as she opened for Holly Golightly with the Rarebirds on Oct. 25 and the compelling works on the 10-track Helicopter Vs. Cheetah make a good case for seeking this local band out.••
Reporter Brian Rademaekers can be reached at 215 354 3039 or at brademaekers@phillynews.com

Check it out . . .
Who: Grammar Debate! and six other local acts.
What: The release of breast cancer benefit CD featuring local acts covering girl-themed songs
Where: The Northstar Bar, 27th and Poplar streets in Fairmount
When: Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8.